On Sunday, a Park worker put up new "Do Not Feed the Pigeons" signs. (Not directed toward anyone in particular) ... Why? Because if you feed a pigeon, you breed a rat...
And maybe there are a few more rats in Tompkins Square Park here toward the end of the summer? (Difficult to say!) These are a few shots of the critters last week via Bobby Williams... (Not quite the Summer of the Ratstravaganza ...)
In any event, the new signs haven't been too effective — someone dumped piles of bread right by one sign along Avenue A yesterday morning...
If only there was enforcement of this rule!
ReplyDeleteFeed a pigeon, breed a rat, have Parks Dept set out rat poison, hawk eats poisoned rat, hawk dies.
So really, Feed a Pigeon, Kill a Hawk. >:(
Leave the rats alone.
ReplyDeletepeople should be given tickets and asked never to return to the park...if they are caught feeding the pigeons
ReplyDeleteaka rat with wings
The new signs were put up in response to a request by the Tompkins Square Park & Playgrounds Parents' Association. If anyone sees someone dumping bread, please take a photo of the person (bonus points: if they are working for a business or organization and your picture can capture some identifying information) and email it to TSP3A@yahoo.com. We will then forward it on to the right people. THANKS!
ReplyDeleteThere is a guy who often shows up on the Avenue B/8th St. side in the afternoons... with nuts for squirrels. Guess he's off the hook!
ReplyDeleteOh yea... Those signs will work.
ReplyDeleteWho the hell "feeds pigeons" beside the totally mentally deranged?
Thought he was peeing behind the sign and damn, but those pics make the rats look cute.
ReplyDeleteThere's a simple solution to this problem: just feed the rats directly and cut out all those pigeon middlemen.
ReplyDeleteI had a person feeding pigeons on my block 12th between A and B. they were stealth and I often was awaken just before dawn as I heard the pigeons gathering and cooing. Then came the dreaded flapping of wings and the feeding frenzy. My buildings window ledges and sidewalk were covered in poop for months until a sign went up on a nearby community garden and the feeding stopped. People that feed pigeons maybe crazy but apparently they can read.
ReplyDeleteChad -- A sign saying "Feed a pigeon, breed a rat, (please don't feed the pigeons)" might be more effective, since it includes a rational explanation that respects the intelligence of the reader. This sign seems too authoritarian and remote to appeal to the conscience. Just a suggestion...(-;
ReplyDeleteI've been taking pix of well-meaning people feeding the pigeons in Tompkins for quite a while, but would love for there to be a link to upload them to. I'll gladly send them to EV Grieve, because the arrogant people—such as the ones in winter who say, "They'll die without me!"—are pretty clueless, not to mention that they can't read.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for them, but only to a point. They're like the person at a party who grinds his cigarette into the carpet, saying, "It's good for the rug!"
What a load of humorless and officious creeps wanting to photograph and "rat" on people. Perhaps you should just get a job with Homeland Security or the TSA to satisfy your voyeurism. Better yet, move to the suburbs.
ReplyDeleteF U, Philosophical Zombie. Since "officials" won't enforce the laws, it's up to fellow citizens to help ensure the illegal nonsense doesn't continue.
ReplyDeleteWhat crap - DON'T "rat" on your fellow man - rule #1. This nanny state bollocks has to stop. As my friends from Ireland say - "Mind yourself". Words to live by. 'Nuff said...
ReplyDeleteMaybe it should say Do Not Dump Food, since that's what's really being done.
ReplyDeleteScuba Dive, No one grinds cigarettes into the carpet. You made that up. So what you're saying is that people who feed pigeons are like people who don't exist.
ReplyDeleteIn honor of Scuba Diva's really bad metaphor about the clueless partygoer who grinds out their cigarette into the carpet who we should almost feel sorry for, we present the Worst Metaphors in the World collected from some really bad student essays. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteHer face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two other sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again.
The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.
McMurphy fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.
Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.
Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.
Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.
The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.
Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr. Pepper can, like Anthony Weiner.
They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.
The thunder was ominous sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play.
The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon.
He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East River.
Hey Anonymous at 10:07 PM - F U too! Read it and weep - it is not illegal to feed pigeons in NYC
ReplyDeletehttp://www1.nyc.gov/apps/311/allServices.htm?requestType=listService&filterServ=Complaint&serviceName=Pigeon+Droppings+or+Odor+Complaint&intentId=3C132E8E-8138-11DE-8E9F-96DAE110FEB8
I'm going to feed a pigeon now - toodleloo!
Giovanni, you are as brilliant as a very bright light bulb, like maybe 100 watts or more!
ReplyDeleteI like the maggot one the best.
ReplyDelete